Ducky Shine 3 Mechanical Keyboard Review

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Ducky Shine 3 DK9008 – Testing & Results

Testing Methodology

As I previously stated, the best way to test a keyboard is to simply use it, but there is another feature that we can test for accuracy, NKRO (N-Key Rollover) Rollover. During normal typing on a membrane or “squishy” keyboard, only one key can be pressed at a time, with the exception of modifier keys (Shift or Control). With N-Key Rollover each keypress is correctly detected regardless of how many other keys are being pressed or held down at the same time. This is especially useful when gaming on keyboard heavy games. We’ll be utilizing Aqua’S KeyTest software to test this.

Test Results

As you can see, there was no problem with multiple presses on the keyboard. The remarkable part about this test is that it achieves this with absolutely no software on the PC and through USB, whereas most other keyboards need a PS/2 connection to achieve this.

Performance

The Ducky Shine 3 offers some performance tweaks which can be adjusted to best suit your needs, such as USB Repeat Delay and Repeat Acceleration. This modifies the speed at which the characters are input when a key is pressed and held down for any length of time. I actually accidentally set this to the highest setting and when I would hold down the backspace key, it would delete a whole paragraph almost instantly! Glad I fixed that one. The speeds are adjusted using the FN + F1 through F8 keys respectively. Each with multipliers of 1x, 2x, 4x, and 8x.

Ducky Shine 3 Final Thoughts

Though not specifically marketed as a gaming keyboard, I find the Ducky Shine 3 to be an excellent option for gaming, the linear action of the Cherry MX Blues makes for a very nice feel. Similar to that of my Razer Orbweaver, which also utilizes Cherry MX Blues. I find using the Ducky Shine 3 DK9008 very satisfying, and I can’t help but constantly change aspects about it’s LED profiles, including the brightness and lighting effects! By far my favorite feature would have to be the switches, I just can’t get enough of the Cherry MX Blues. If you’ve never tried a mechanical keyboard, or never tried a Cherry MX Blue mechanical keyboard, then the Ducky would be, by far, and excellent choice. There are only two things that I can think of to improve this keyboard: 1. Adding some USB ports and 2. Maybe an optional wrist pad. Other than these small personal preferences, the Ducky is a solid contender to be in your peripheral arsenal.

This keyboard, like the Func KB-460 (an excellent keyboard that utilizes Cherry MX Reds and winner of our Golden Tachometer Award), utilizes nor needs any software for all of it’s features (with the exception of the Func needing software for key remapping). I don’t know about you, but having a keyboard that I can plug in, that remembers my settings through on-board memory and not having yet another piece of software to install to get it working 100%, is a huge bonus.